Zverev advances in straight sets, Bautista Agut falls in four sets
In the first match on Court Suzanne-Lenglen on Wednesday, it was Alexander Zverev who defeated Roman Sufiullin in straight sets 7-6(4), 6-3, 7-6(1). In the second match on Court Simonne-Mathieu, it was the 11th seed Roberto Bautista Agut that fell in four sets to world number 150 Henri Laaksonen 3-6, 6-2, 3-6, 2-6.
Alexander Zverev was coming off of a five-set thriller against fellow countryman Oscar Otte, in which Zverev came back after being down two sets to love. Zverev made sure to make his second match less eventful, taking the match in just under two and a half hours.
More from Lob and Smash
- Caroline Wozniacki gets her wild card for the Australian Open
- Tennis News: Rafael Nadal, Emma Raducanu and protected rankings
- Martina Navratilova: Money lost by coming out was in the ‘millions’
- Tennis News: Novak Djokovic, Nick Kyrgios and Matteo Berrettini
- Boris Becker and Rick Macci bicker over Carlos Alcaraz
Zverev played really well on his first serve the entire match, winning 80% of the points when he got the first serve in. Zverev was also better on the second serve, winning 53% of the points compared to 41% from Sufiullin, according to Infosys Match Centre. 53% is not great, but it is fairly good considering Zverev gave away 10 free points to Sufiullin on just double faults alone.
For Bautista Agut, this is a shocking defeat to Henri Laaksonen, as Bautista Agut has made it to at least the third round at Roland Garros every year for the last five years.
You have to give a lot of credit to Laaksonen though, as he played a fantastic match. Although he had 43 unforced errors, he did blast 53 winners, giving him a positive winner to unforced error ratio. Bautista Agut did have a lot less errors, only having 25 unforced, but did only hit 17 winners, giving him a negative ratio.
Coming into the net did not work well for Bautista Agut, winning only seven of the 19 points when he came in. Meanwhile, Laaksonen came into the net only 12 times, but won the point 10 of those times, according to Infosys Match Centre.
Next up for Zverev will be Laslo Djere, who came back from two sets down earlier on Wednesday to defeat Miomir Kecmanovic. For Henri Laaksonen, he will face the winner between Kei Nishikori and Karen Khachanov.